There is
something important in the training of young
soldiers if a military unit is to be
successful in war and indeed critical in
relation to the three fighting corps. In
regard to the Infantry, an 'Esprit De Corps'
or a fierce loyalty to a unit, a pride in
its history, battle flags etc, is the cement
that holds the battalions'―companies, down
to platoons, sections together against the
'tide of war'. This!―In the case of the
Australian Army in Vietnam, developed into
an élan as the soldiers out-fought their
opponents in the field and measured
themselves not only against the VC and NVA,
but also against the performances of their
Allies and came to understand their worth.
The Vietnam veterans on their return found
anger, resentment and indifference. They
were the generation that had gone through a
school system in the 1950s that inoculated
with daily doses of the Anzac superiority
myth. How was it possible not to be damaged
by the sheer injustice of it! And this, I
believe, driven and nurtured only by
political expediency. They were too young to
know then―that to fight for your country
today and be stoned tomorrow, is and always
was, the price of democracy. Resentment
descended into deep disillusionment as they
watched in the 1970s, the irresponsible
destruction of that army as the national
servicemen were told to go home.
Those in the service at that time tell how
millions of dollars worth of equipment were
lost as stores were abandoned, stolen or
misplaced, as this organisation that they
had been taught, and indeed had a right to
be proud of, was gutted! And thus to
depression. It was that Esprit De Corps you
see ― once
implanted, you break the heart of a soldier
if you destroy it. But despite, or perhaps
because of this, there is still enough pride
still within my broken heart to say: